Pigeon Casserole In Red Wine Sauce Recipes

POT-ROASTED PIGEONS IN RED WINE

Steps:

• Wash pigeons inside and out in cold water, pat dry and stuff each with 2 sage leaves, a pinch of salt and some cracked pepper. Choose a heavy-based lidded pot that will fit all four pigeons comfortably (they need to be turned to brown all over). Place on medium heat, add the butter and oil. When foaming, add remaining sage leaves and the four birds. Brown them all over, seasoning with salt and pepper before adding the carrot, onion, garlic and rosemary. Cook for a couple of minutes more until lightly golden and add half the wine. Turn the heat to medium-low and cover with a lid, slightly askew. Keep the butter and wine bubbling so the birds are half roasting and half steaming. There should always be about 2cm of liquid in the bottom and you will need to add more wine or water as you go. Cook for 35-45 mins, turning the birds at intervals, until the meat is tender. (Push the thighs with a fork - meat should come away from the bone.) Remove from heat and allow to rest for few minutes. Put the pigeons on a warm serving plate and return pot to the heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of cold water to the sauce and bring to the boil, stir the sides and bottom to remove any tasty brown bits and pour the juices over the squabs. To serve Serve with gratinated fennel.

PIGEON CASSEROLE IN RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Fry the diced bacon for 2 minutes, add the butter (I used 1oz of butter and a dash of olive oil) and the pigeons and brown quickly on all sides.
• Remove and add the chopped vegetables, herbs, salt, freshly ground pepper and flour. Mix well.
• Replace the birds, pour on the stock and the wine, bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 1 1/2 hours, until the birds are tender.
• Serve with red currant jelly.

CHICKEN & RED WINE CASSEROLE WITH HERBY DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6. Season the chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then coat lightly in a little of the flour. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof lidded casserole dish and, in batches, brown the chicken on both sides over a high heat. Remove the chicken and set aside.
• Reduce the heat, add the onions and lardons and cook for about 5-8 minutes so they are golden tinged. Add the garlic, then sprinkle in the plain flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring to prevent sticking.
• Add the mushrooms, bay leaves, redcurrant sauce and orange zest, then pour in the red wine and stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then return the chicken to the casserole dish, making sure it is well covered with the liquid. Put on the lid and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
• While the casserole is cooking, prepare the dumplings. Put the self raising flour, breadcrumbs, mustard and butter in a food processor and blitz to a crumb consistency. Add the thyme, parsley, eggs and salt and pepper. Briefly blitz until the mixture forms a fairly moist dough. Using floured hands, roll the dough into 6 large, even-sized balls.
• Remove the casserole from the oven when the 30 minutes is up and sit the dumplings on top. Pop the lid back on and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, until the casserole is cooked and the dumplings have puffed up. Spoon the chicken and sauce onto six plates and top each with a dumpling. Serve with a rich, fruity red wine.
• If you want to use a slow cooker, brown the chicken in batches and transfer to the slow cooker pot. Add the flour, onions, lardons, garlic, mushrooms, bay leaves, redcurrant, orange zest, red wine and stock, and season. Cover and cook on High for 4 hours. Make the dumplings according to step 4, then sit on top of the casserole after 4 hours. Cook for another 1-2 hours, then serve.

STEAK IN RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, vegetables and herbs, and cook on a medium heat until they soften and begin to colour. Heat a drop of olive oil in a frying pan. Season the beef trimmings and fry until coloured and sealed all over. Add the meat to the vegetables.
• Pour 1-2 glasses of wine into the frying pan in which you have cooked the meat. Bring this to the boil, scraping and lifting all the meat residue from the bottom of the pan. Pour the liquid into the pan that contains the meat and vegetables. Let the pan's contents bubble until the wine has reduced by three-quarters.
• Now add and reduce the rest of the wine, 1-2 glasses at a time. If you tip it all in at once, you wash the vegetables and meat of their roasted edge, so their flavour in the finished sauce is bland. Reduce by three-quarters, glass by glass until all the wine is used.
• Now add the beef jus, bring to a simmer and cook gently for 45 mins to 1 hr. Regularly skim away any impurities by weaving a small ladle in and out of the top of the sauce. Taste regularly and when you are happy with the flavour, strain the sauce through a fine sieve, squeezing out all the juices from the meat and vegetables.
• Ideally, also pass the sauce through a sieve lined with a piece of muslin, which will help remove fine impurities. Check for seasoning. You can make ahead up to this point, cool and refrigerate or freeze.
• Heat a grill or pan to hot, smear the steaks with oil and cook them, turning once, 4-5 mins for rare, 7-8 mins for medium, 8-10 mins for well done. Serve the steaks on a bed of wilted spinach with sticky shallots and pour the red wine sauce around. Mashed potatoes make a good accompaniment to this.

BEEF IN RED WINE WITH MELTING ONIONS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. In a large, heavy-based flameproof casserole dish with a lid, melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, cook for 10 mins until starting to brown, then transfer to a small plate.
• Put the flour in a large plastic food bag with plenty of black pepper. Add half the beef, shake to coat, then remove, leaving some flour in the bag. Add the rest of the beef and shake to coat in the remaining flour.
• Heat the oil in the same casserole dish you cooked the onions in (there's no need to clean it first). Add the beef and bay leaves, and fry until the meat is browned all over. Pour in the wine and return the onions to the dish. Add the tomato purée and stock, stir and return to a simmer. Cover with the lid and put in the oven to stew for 1 hr.
• After 1 hr, add the mushrooms and return to the oven for another hour. Taste the meat - if it's tender, remove from the oven. If it's still a little firm, cook for 30 mins more and test again. Serve scattered with parsley, if you like.

MUSHROOMS IN RED WINE SAUCE

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large heavy Dutch oven or skillet over medium heat.
• Add/stir in flour to blend.
• Add in mushrooms, wine, broth, onion, garlic and Worcestershire sauce; cook until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally (about 40 minutes).
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Transfer to a bowl.
• Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley.